Current AffairsCzech firm aims to improve life for fliers with new liquid detector

If you ever had to dump a bottle of your favourite drink before boarding
your plane, or plead for a plastic bag at one of the airport’s stores to
put your nose drops in, you will appreciate an invention that might soon do
away with all this. A company in Prague has developed a portable detector
of dangerous liquids that will tell the airport security people that your
drink is harmless. The director of the company RS Dynamics Jiří Bláha
explains more about the detector, known as Explonics.

Jiří Bláha, photo: Zdeněk Vališ
“Explonics, as the name indicates, is a device which enables fast and
reliable detection of any explosive contraband, together with background
detection of any radiological contraband. For next year, we are working on
a special add-on which will make it possible to detect any dangerous
liquid. In this concept, the instrument will be able to effectively guard
check-in gates at airports or any mass transport facilities against the
entry of any dangerous materials, making air-traffic much safer and
check-in much more comfortable.”

I imagine it’s rather complicated to analyze a bottle’s contents
without actually opening it. How does your detector work?

A portable detector Explonix, photo: www.rsdynamics.com
“The detector is based on the electromagnetic properties of liquids; it
measures their electromagnetic and dynamic-magnetic properties. It can
determine if the liquid is water or a drink, or if it’s an energized
material which could be dangerous.”

Are there for instance any bottles or cans that are more difficult to
analyze than others?

“There are of course a lot of problems which prevent this new technology
from being immediately applied at airports. We mainly have to focus on
glass containers, plastic bottles, but no such detector on the world market
is, unfortunately, capable of detecting what is in metal cans.”

“The current product which combines effective and fast detection of
explosive traces together with radiological contraband has been developed
for seven years. For a year and a half we have been working on the
programme for the detection of dangerous liquids, and we would like to
complete it in 2009.”

“We suppose so, because this year we have won a tender for the delivery
of more detectors to Prague Airport. Those people are anxious to test and
apply the new, very reliable detector of dangerous liquids. Taking away
liquids from any passenger is still a nightmare in flight preparation,
because people are very unhappy with this procedure; it’s not
comfortable, it’s boring and even frustrating for some people, so the
demand for a reliable and good detector of dangerous liquid is still
there.”